cameras - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-29T10:55:33Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/camerasOcean Ridge: Resident offers possible bargain on license plate recognition camerashttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/ocean-ridge-resident-offers-possible-bargain-on-license-plate-rec2018-05-30T19:06:40.000Z2018-05-30T19:06:40.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p class="p1">Ocean Ridge resident Finbarr O’Carroll and Police Chief Hal Hutchins are working on a proposal for license plate recognition cameras that could save the town tens of thousands of dollars.</p>
<p class="p1">O’Carroll, a telecommunications executive with the Kerry Group, thinks he might be able to install a camera system as part of a test program for $13,000, roughly $200,000 less than retail estimates.</p>
<p class="p1">An enthusiastic Town Commission told Hutchins to work with O’Carroll and bring a proposal to the June meeting.</p>
<p class="p2"><i>— Dan Moffett</i></p></div>Delray Beach: New cameras let police monitor tags on vehicleshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/delray-beach-new-cameras-let-police-monitor-tags-on-vehicles2017-03-29T20:05:47.000Z2017-03-29T20:05:47.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Rich Pollack</strong><br /><br /> Bad guys, beware.<br /> If you’re thinking about crossing into any part of Delray Beach east of the Intracoastal Waterway, you might want to think twice now that the Police Department has a new tool that makes it harder for you to come and go without being noticed. <br /> Since early last month, police have been using a permanent license-plate recognition system that scans the tags of cars passing by and compares them with what’s in several law enforcement databases. <br /> While the Police Department is cautious about announcing where cameras are, Police Chief Jeff Goldman says they are strategically placed to ensure officers on patrol are notified when suspicious vehicles, such as those reported stolen or those with expired or stolen tags, enter the city. <br /> “There is no way to get on or off the island without passing a camera,” he said. <br /> Cameras are on only the barrier island, but the department has plans to roll them out to more and more locations. <br /> “The installation on the barrier island is the first of many,” Goldman said.</p></div>Highland Beach cruises forward on auto tag recognitionhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/highland-beach-cruises-forward-on-auto-tag-recognition2015-04-01T18:50:57.000Z2015-04-01T18:50:57.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p><strong>By Rich Pollack</strong><br /><br /> Plans to install license-plate recognition cameras along State Road A1A are moving forward, but not as quickly as many from the law enforcement agencies involved had hoped.<br /> Late last month, Highland Beach town officials gave Police Chief Craig Hartmann preliminary approval to continue negotiations with contractor NDI Recognition Systems, which currently provides cameras and software to the Delray Beach Police Department and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. <br /> In asking the town to waive its requirement for three bids before selecting a contractor, Hartmann said that working with NDI would make it easier for Highland Beach to partner with neighboring law-enforcement agencies and thus reduce costs. <br /> “It’s going to be cost effective for our town to partner with Delray Beach or the Sheriff’s Office and share data,” Hartmann said. <br /> License-plate recognition systems, like the one offered by NDI, use cameras to scan license plates as they pass. Should a license plate number match one in a database as being on a stolen vehicle or vehicle used in a crime, for example, an alert would be given to dispatchers or police personnel monitoring the system. <br /> Because Highland Beach does not have its own dispatchers, it would need to rely on either Delray Beach or the Sheriff’s Office to house the database and provide monitoring. <br /> Though it appears the Highland Beach Police Department has the green light and the funding to move forward with the project, Hartmann said it will still be months before cameras are installed. <br /> “We’re still in the development stages and there’s a lot of work that needs to be done before it’s operational,” he said. <br /> Hartmann and other police chiefs, who have been working on providing a coordinated license-plate recognition system for several months, discovered late last month that there may be even more work than anticipated. <br /> At a meeting with representatives from Florida Power & Light as well as Palm Beach County’s traffic division, law enforcement leaders learned there is still more coordination required with other county and state agencies before the project can move forward.<br /> “We learned that there are more entities that need to be involved in the decision-making process,” says Jeff Messer, a spokesman for the Delray Beach Police Department. “We aren’t as close to finalizing this as we thought we’d be.” <br /> Delray Beach currently has a mobile license-plate recognition system but is hoping to install a fixed system as well.<br /> A lingering issue that still needs to be worked out is whether cameras will be allowed on state rights of way along A1A. <br /> In addition, not all municipalities involved in the project have signed off on funding.<br /> Still, there is optimism that a coordinated license-plate recognition system will be in place.<br /> “At this point its still a viable concept,” says former Ocean Ridge Police Chief Chris Yannuzzi, who serves as a consultant for the initiative. “This is the first time out of the box for us to try to do a multi-jurisdictional project of this magnitude.”</p></div>Gulf Stream: Improvements, cameras for Place Au Soleil entrancewayhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/gulf-stream-improvements-cameras-for-place-au-soleil-entranceway2011-08-31T18:05:47.000Z2011-08-31T18:05:47.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p>By Steve Plunkett<br /><br />Place Au Soleil homeowners will install four security cameras to track comings and goings while they widen the entrance road to their community across the street from the Walmart being built in Boynton Beach.<br />“I think that’s all part of a message to the outsiders: This is a class town, and beware!’’ homeowner association representative Ned McDonald said.<br />Town commissioners at their August meeting agreed to act as a “bank of Gulf Stream’’ and lend the homeowners up to $90,000 for the project while the group collects $800 special assessments from its members. The town also will contribute $10,000 and the Gulf Stream Civic Association $7,500.<br />McDonald said 15 homeowners had already paid a discounted $750 before letters could go out seeking the money. The association voted 54-6 in favor of the project.<br />The Place Au Soleil homeowners have talked about fixing up the entrance for years, McDonald said.<br />“We really turned the jets on when we learned that Walmart was coming,’’ he said.<br />The road on either side of the guardhouse is too narrow for fire engines and some delivery trucks, which run over and crumble the curb or hit the guardhouse’s tiled roof. The new curbs will be farther from the guardhouse and swale-shaped to minimize the chance of their breaking.<br />McDonald said the improvements would be top-notch. “Whether someone is coming in from the east side of Gulf Stream or from the west side of Gulf Stream, your front entrance is going to be an ‘ahh’ moment. It’s going to be, ‘This is class, this is really special,’ ’’ he said.<br />The Walmart, at the northwest corner of Federal Highway and Gulfstream Boulevard where the Platinum Gold strip club used to be, is scheduled to open Oct. 26, about two months before the Place Au Soleil project is finished. The store will be open 24 hours a day seven days a week.<br />“There’s a lot of information out there that indicates that crime surrounding a 24/7 Walmart increases,’’ Town Manager William Thrasher said.<br />Two of the cameras will record pedestrians; the other two will capture license <br />plates. </p>
<p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960346275,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-full" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960346275,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="269" alt="7960346275?profile=original" /></a> </p></div>Boca Raton: Red-light cameras coming to 5 intersectionshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-redlight-cameras2010-11-03T20:55:56.000Z2010-11-03T20:55:56.000ZScott Simmonshttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/ScottSimmons<div>By Margie Plunkett<br /><br />Smile for the cameras when you drive through five busy intersections in Boca Raton that are targeted for installation of red light cameras. You might not be happy later: Get caught running a red light and you can count on getting a $158 ticket in the mail.<br />The cameras take multiple photos of vehicles going through the detection zone: as a vehicle approaches the red light, in the intersection and then of the license plate.<br />“There’s no confusion about who is running a red light,” said Assistant Chief of Police Edgar Morley.<br />The pictures of the violations are sent to the Police Department, where they’re reviewed and if confirmed, the vendor sends off a notice of violation.<br />The cumulative tickets could raise up to $800,000 in net revenue for the city, which won’t have any outlay for the equipment, Morley told commissioners at their Oct. 12 workshop. <br />The camera vendor does receive a fee for each “approach” where the cameras are mounted. There are typically four approaches at each intersection.<br />While the council members voted to install a system, a vendor must still be chosen. The system could go in as soon as 60 to 90 days after a vendor is selected. After the system is in place, drivers will have a 30-day warning period before the city starts issuing violations, Morley said.<br />The red light system is allowed by the Mark Wandall Traffic Safety Act, enacted last July 1.<br />You might want to get your excuses in order. There are a few ways to get off the hook after being caught on camera. One is to show the traffic ticket you were already issued at the time of the violation by the officer waiting on the other side of the intersection. Others include if you were in a funeral procession or if you were waved through the light by a traffic officer. <br /><br />Chosen Intersections<br />Boca Raton is proposing red light cameras at five notoriously busy intersections:<br />Eastbound/Westbound Glades Road and NW 15 Avenue<br />Northbound St. Andrews and Yamato Road<br />Southbound St. Andrews and Glades Road<br />Eastbound Clint Moore Road and Military Trail<br />Eastbound/Westbound Glades Road and St. Andrews Boulevard<br /><br />Who Shares the Fine?<br />How a $158 fine is distributed<br />Amount/Recipient<br />$70 Fla./General Fund<br />$10 Fla./Dept. of Health Administrative Trust Fund<br />$3 Fla./Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Trust Fund<br />$75 Municipality <br />SOURCE: City of Boca Raton<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>